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Darwin (The Top End)
Australia
October, 2000
After spending the last few weeks in the snow I was really looking forward to arriving in the tropics. My flight had a stopover in Sydney so I didn't arrive in Darwin until 10:00 PM. It was hot, but it felt good. I took the cheap bus to my Hostel but the front desk was closed. Luckily I found the security guy who got me a room (the desk at hostels often close early so call ahead!). I stayed at Chili's Backpacker's for $49/night with air con - great hostel close to everything. I had my trip scheduled very tight - the next morning at 7:00AM my tour picked me up. I had always wanted to go to Kakadu National Park so this was it. My tour lasted for 5 days and we visited Lichtfield, Katherine Gorge, and Kakadu. I tour guide was a young guy and really cool (Dez). He always made sure we had at least 2 cases of beer whenever we camped. The rest of the group was couples except one German lady (we had to share a tent but I wasn't so interested - Dez scammed her a couple times!). This trip ruled - you do spend the 5 days swatting flies and mosquitos but the scenery is so awesome you don't care. We drove a Toyota 4wd with a supply trailer and we were pretty cramped.
Lichtfield National Park was our first stop. It's really a mini Kakadu. We went to two lush waterfalls that were perfect for swimming. I had my mask and snorkel and in one of the pools there were lots of tropical freshwater fish. The rainforests of the top end are really spectacular - some of the oldest on the planet. That night we drove to and camped at Katherine. The group was great - every night we partied and I would get my guitar out and jam songs - one night we almost had the whole campground rocking out - Viva is always the favorite!
You can't miss the canoe trip up Katherine Gorge. Itis a really deep red rock gorge - the rock walls often rise a few hundred feet. While your paddling up you can cruise into these gaps in the walls where we saw at least 5 species of Bats. We only did a half-day paddle and it was way too short - next time I'll stay for a few days and really explore the gorge. Animals so far??? Just Roo's birds, lizards and bats so far - Kakadu's the place and we were on our way.
Kakadu was spectacular. The sunsets were out of this world. Thousands and thousands of birds in flight, crocks skimming the water's surface all in front on giant red thunder caps in the distance. Our first day we went to Jim Jim Falls (above). Two days before we got there some Korean guy drowned near the fall. But when we were there the falls were mellow and I swam right out. There were lots of places to sit and rest right near the fall so who knows how the guy could have drown. I thought most of the time in Kakadu we would be hiking in rainforests - but in reality we spent most of our time swimming - get out of the heat and safe from the skeeters! When we drove around we went through rivers where the water was only a few inches below the windows! No wonder most people take tours in Kakadu.
The land of the Top End is really strange. Everywhere you go there are giant termite mounds. Some are pointed like long spear heads. The others look like giant tombstones which looks really creepy at night in the moonlight (above). We also got to see lots of Aborigine art which was cool too.
Our last sunset was incredible. Soon we were on our way back to Darwin but not before I had obtained about 1000 mosquito bites. I was really stoked to get to my hostel (air con and hot water!). I'll tell you, after 5 days of swatting and sweating, the relief of closing my door and turning on the air con was like taking your uncomfortable ski boots after a day on the mountain. I spent the next day in Darwin. My flight to Cairns left that night at 4:00 AM so I partied until 2:00 and took the shuttle to the airport.
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